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Comment

AFTER this turgid narrow defeat, Sunderland must now switch their attention towards next Saturday's trip to Derby County in the hope of finally ending their search for an away win this season.

Otherwise, having failed to find the required three points at Portsmouth, further disappointment at Pride Park next weekend and Sunderland could be in more than a spot of relegation trouble again.

While this result is by no means disastrous, it is victories on Sunderland's travels manager Roy Keane is striving for and both today's long trek and next week's trip to Derby were decent opportunities to achieve such.

From there, there will be the visits of Champions League-chasing Everton and Chelsea to the Stadium of Light before a difficult trip to Aston Villa is followed by another tricky home fixture against West Ham.

And if much needed wins are to arrive against any of the above then it will be clear to Keane that his players will have to keep possession better.

Time and time again, the players in red and white gifted the ball back to an out of sorts Pompey that were there for the beating, despite the clever midfield play of Lassana Diarra.

Kenwyne Jones often cut an isolated figure on his own up front, as many a long pass evaded the towering Trinidad and Tobago international in the final third.

And once Phil Bardsley had tripped Niko Kranjcar in the area, with Jermain Defoe slotting in the opener, there was no way back for the Black Cats.

5:33pm Saturday 23rd February 2008

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